Agnes, the Well's Guardian, was a mere shadow beside it, knitting as she rocked in the great stone chair, rocking and knitting just as each Guardian had done for as long as anyone could remember.'Įleven year-old Nuria knows to distrust the magic of the well-the wishes it grants (one per customer) tend to be horribly twisted. But there was nothing blurred about the Wishing Well, which rose from the pale winter grass in a massive sweep of granite. 'The trees stood black and sleek as skeletons, their crisp edges blurred to velvet by the failing light. So here are my thoughts on Well Wished, by Franny Billingsley (Atheneum, 1997).

'About this title' may belong to another edition of this title.The nice thing about library books is that one can write about them late in the day on a Saturday in summer (a time when few readers are out and about) without any of the compunctions that one might feel when writing about a book received for review at such a time. 9-12) - Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. For all the novelistic trimmings, Billingsley's debut is a fairy tale, elongated and embellished, but not necessarily improved.

The story stumbles only in the delineation of the magical apparatus, spelled out abruptly in the opening pages before readers have their bearings, and leaving little doubt as to the direction events will take. Lively, imaginative Nuria, with her very real insecurities, is an interesting character, as is the warm, eccentric Avy Catty's own pressing agendas are both poignant and believable. That's exactly what Catty gets Nuria, meanwhile, is left with Catty's damaged limbs. Defying his orders to stay away from the well, Nuria makes a wish-that Catty could have a body just like her own.

Nuria hasn't the knack for friendship the Avy is the first person she's known who has really loved her, and she's jealous when he tries to include Catty.

The Avy attempts to wish them back but succeeds with only one child, Catty Winter, who is crippled. The town's central feature is a wishing well, but wishes have a way of going dangerously awry: One wish went wrong and every child in town disappeared. Orphaned, she has come to live with her grandfather, the Avy, in the magical town of Bishop Mayne. The intersection of magic and reality is somewhat bumpy in this intriguing first novel.

Well wished by franny billingsley